Ryobi Day – 2011/12

During the 2011/12 season, Ryobi ran a fantastic competition giving cricket clubs around Australia the chance to win a $20,000 makeover. The competition required entrants to submit a 500-word explanation of why their club needed the makeover and to make things even harder, the club had to send in a video to accompany the written component.

After a call out by then president Conrad Dickson, a few of the die hard members of the club turned up on a hot Sunday afternoon to shoot the video. A handful of soon-to-become film stars were handed Conrad’s script (written at 2am the night before!) ahead of an afternoon that would turn out like no one expected.

Helensvale submitted an entry into the Ryobi Overhaul competition thinking they wouldn’t have a chance – and well, we won!

Along with the $20,000 makeover, the Hawks were given the unique opportunity to host an Australian Cricketers’ Association Legends XI (featuring the likes of Merv Hughes and Michael Bevan) in a Twenty20 match at Hession Oval. We had just one week to prepare for a crowd possibly in excess of 1000 people at our home ground, with the game to be held on Sunday, January 22, 2012.

The Hawks’ volunteers worked miracles and put together a massively successful day. The pitch was perfect, the food was all sorted and most importantly, the club spirit was strong.

Approximately 800 people showed up to watch the list below play a select few Helensvale Hawks rewarded for their involvement within the video and around the club.

Unfortunately, the Hawks went down in the Twenty20 – but we won the day and the appreciation of the crowd. We put on the best show in town to prove we really are the best club on the Gold Coast.

We thank Ryobi and everyone who was involved in the event. Without the efforts of our club members, the day would not have happened and would not have been such a success.

Ryobi were wrapped with what we put on. Channel 9 said it looked great. The ACA Legends loved the wicket, the ground and the whole day. The public also had a great time.
Once we found out we won the Ryobi Overhaul competition, our goal was simple: to maximise its potential and show our club is not only the best on the Gold Coast but the entire country. In my eyes, we succeeded.

I would like to thank everyone who was involved in the day, and everything that everyone did. The majority of the work throughout the week was done by IWP (former president Ian Wade-Parker) and Nigel Nulty, with some help from a heap of other great members of the club. On the day we saw a great turnout in the morning, with all putting in to help out. It was fantastic to see how many actually helped in all areas of the club. From setup, running and clean up at the end of the day.

This was never going to be a couple of people job, and running a club never is – so to actually see people step up was great. It would be great to see it more often around the club.

What did we get from the Ryobi competition? Well, our change rooms got an overhaul! They look fantastic – and in the coming months – our collapsing pergola will be getting replaced with a brand new one. With the money made on the day – we will also be looking at tidying up our showers, toilets and doing a lot more maintenance around the club to get it to council requirements. Hopefully there is enough left to do some more enhancements around the clubhouse to get it to a great standard for all of our members. The committee will be working hard to make this happen – hopefully each of you can do the same.

I saw Hawk Pride that day – I want to see Hawk Pride again very soon! In fact, every Saturday. Go the HAWKIES!!

Also a huge thanks to the Council and John Wayne for ensuring we were able to get the support we needed to get the event across the line.